Boss takes all 800 employees on Caribbean cruise

WATERLOO, Iowa -- January in Iowa can be cold and dreary, but employees at a cabinet company are about to get a sunny reprieve from the winter doldrums, all thanks to the boss.

All of the more than 800 employees of Bertch Cabinets in Waterloo will get a free trip to the Caribbean next month. The company announced the trip on its Facebook page.

"We leave January 8," company president Gary Bertch told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. "We've got four charter aircraft that will be flying directly to Miami Sunday and staying at a nice five-star hotel. Then on Monday, we'll bus over from the hotel to the port and load up on the ship."

Bertch told his employees the trip was a reward for them after they helped the company meet its goals for the year. He offered the cruise as an incentive a year ago.

"We just tried to get all of our people pumped up a little more to achieve the various goals, both customer-oriented goals and financial goals."

That's a heck of a lot better than getting a $5 gift card and a pat on the back.